Our Derby Traditions

“There’s this song called ‘Derbytime’ by a local artist, Jacob Englert, whose group is called Bongolicious. We got a CD from him like 15 years ago. It’s not on Spotify or YouTube or anywhere digital, so my sister and I fight over who gets to have the CD in their car each year. As soon as the weather gets warm and you can feel the Derby vibes in the air, we blast this song. I used to cater this event every year downtown, and I’d make my staff listen to it when they rode to the event in my car. I think maybe they hated it, but I couldn’t help it. That song just overflows with Derby joy. ‘Sun will shine, feeling fine, it’s Derbytime.’ That’s the chorus. And it’s a reggae beat. Doesn’t get better than this.”

“Just love knowing it is all happening, everywhere, all over the city.”

“The Balloon Glow. Absolutely gorgeous to see the hot-air balloons all lit up along the waterfront.”

“For decades, the residents of Old Louisville would plant red geraniums in their porch pots to welcome the event and visitors. I still love doing this simple nod to an earlier Derbytime.”

“I wear my mint julep earrings from Trunk and Hutch boutique starting on the day of Thunder until the day after the Derby.”

“I know it’s Derbytime when WFPK puts Love Jones’ ‘Central Avenue’ in the rotation.”

“Dawn at the Downs. I love grabbing a coffee and visiting the Downs in the early morning, especially if the sun is just burning off the fog. What a great feeling to be able to walk up to the rail and hear the thunder of the hooves.”

“Dawn at the Downs to watch those magnificent athletes get their last gallops in before the biggest day of their lives. I officially feel ‘Derbyfied’ once I do that.”  

“Being born and raised in Louisville, and as the daughter of a retired jockey, I look forward to all the stories my dad likes to share during this time. Taking him to the track for Dawn at the Downs, and then off to Wagner’s for breakfast is a must every year.”

“The first time I see those people outside Churchill Downs with the microphones shouting that me and everyone I know are heading to hell, that’s the moment my Derby soul hits 100.”

“I look forward to avoiding Derby festivities at all costs. This year, I’ll be throwing an elaborate birthday party for my cats.”

“Switching out our vintage winter ski poster with a beautiful, large photo of 2015 Derby winner American Pharoah taken by local photographer Ted Tarquinio.”

“The Cherokee Triangle Art Fair, the weekend before Derby. Like a springtime reset for my spirit.”

“Having Oaks Day off.” 

“Renting out my house to out-of-towners.”

“Leaving the city and attending Jazz Fest in New Orleans.” 

“Leaving town for the weekend — this year it is Seattle ; )”

“The Balloon Glow. Absolutely gorgeous to see the hot-air balloons all lit up along the waterfront.”

“I love the actual Saturday-morning balloon race. I have wonderful memories of my mom hauling us to the Fairgounds in the dark hours of the morning to watch the liftoff, followed by a stop at Krispy Kreme on the way home. The tradition continued with my own children, and we’ve even chased the balloons after liftoff.”

“The OGs know the Balloon Glow used to be out at the Fairgrounds, not at Waterfront Park. There’s something both exciting and peaceful about the event.” 

“I love recreating my childhood traditions with my own children. All hot-air-balloon-rated events give me that nostalgic, Derbytime vibe. Plus the colors, the early-morning light, the sounds of balloons filling.” 

“I look forward to the smaller parties around town that are mostly for locals, not the big extravagant events for the tourists.”

“We used to have an open house on Derby that I adored. We’d invite everyone we knew, make as much Derby-appropriate food as we could, create a cocktail with a theme — like ‘regret’ in 2015, on the 100th anniversary of Regret’s 1915 Derby win.”

“Visiting Morris’ Deli to order country ham, barbecue pork, Benedictine, pimento cheese, Camelot buns, potato salad and bourbon balls.”

“For 15 years, on Oaks Night, I meet a couple friends for dinner downtown, then we walk to the Seelbach, Brown Hotel, Galt House and 21c for a drink at each, just soaking up all the Derby vibes.”

“Every Wednesday evening of Derby Week, we meet family and friends at Porcini on Frankfort Avenue for dinner and drinks. My grandfather hosted his annual Derby kickoff party there for years in the back private room. He passed away in 2020, but we still keep the tradition alive and celebrate this special time in our city and honor his life.”

“Backside at Churchill Downs, ‘el corazón’ — the ❤️ — of the Kentucky Derby, recognizing the Latino immigrants’ contributions for its success. It has been said that there would be no Derby without the Latinos and the Spanish-speaking horses.”

“We have a family friend who often works on the backside at Churchill. For the last four years, we’ve had the special opportunity to join them for Derby Day there. We wear jeans and boots, pack a picnic, bring our own chairs and watch the action from a different vantage point. It’s an honor to spend the day among the people who work so hard to care for the horses.” 

“Love seeing everyone’s spiffed-up landscaping. Just a fresh layer of mulch makes spring’s blooms look so beautiful.”

“I love how every property owner seems to take such pride in their space, that our whole city looks freshly spring-like and tidied-up. It’s amazing what a two-minute horse race will make us do.”

“Derby Week brings me some of the fondest memories of my sister Judy. She raced Thoroughbreds and loved all horses. She will be watching from heaven, always.”

“I like to watch the private planes depart.”

“I’m glad the city gets a lot of publicity, but: Sunday after Derby by a mile.”

“The Sunday after, when it’s all finally over.”

“‘And down the stretch they come!’ Can barely stand the excitement of that moment.” 

 
“Thunder grand finale, the playing of ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ and the Call to the Post for the race itself, and probably in that order.” 

“Getting to the track on Derby Day and watching all the people, and especially chatting with folks there for the first time.”

“Every year, I go to Thurby with a group of friends. We all get dressed up with our hats and such, and we get boxes right on the finish line for a fraction of what’ll be the cost two days later. We place our cheap bets, buy the pricey drinks and stack up those Oaks Lilly and julep glasses, with just a wee bit of breakage.”

“My Derby tradition actually takes place on Oaks Day. My friend Donna watches the race, then calls to tell me to get out my bike. We ride up Southern Parkway to the track, where I watch the bikes —and the people — while Donna goes in to place our Derby bets. She always comes out with a supply of Derby and Oaks glasses.”

“Who doesn’t love the tradition of buying the official mint julep Derby glass? Each Derby, instead of buying the most recent year’s glass, I find myself scrounging through thrift stores across Louisville to find a previous year’s glass that isn’t in my collection.” 

“Most of us Louisville locals are partying it up in living rooms and on decks.”

“Derbytime became a wash-rinse-repeat tradition that I began to dread each year. So I tallied up how much Derby cost me, and I now watch the race from a bar in the Caribbean.”

“When I moved here 45 years ago, I decided I’d (at least) embrace the Derby food tradition. So between a church cookbook recipe for ‘Alma’s cheese,’ Weisenberger grits, Kroger for Benedictine and decent strawberries, Finchville country ham and a beaten biscuits recipe from the ‘Soul Food Cookbook,’ I’ve managed to lay out a pretty great meal every year. Friends raised here taught us to love fried corn, and I’ll do that on occasion too. I MUCH prefer my ‘Winner’s Circle Pie, a ‘C-J’ recipe, to that other, trademarked version. On Derby Day, I’ll put my Southern cooking next to anybody else’s with confidence.”

“We always get the mint for juleps early because it can sell out this time of year.”

“I make sure my julep simple syrup has a day or two to ‘steep,’ so the mint taste is subtle but definitely there.”

“When I make a batch of mint syrup a couple of days before Derby, that fragrance reminds me that fun times are just ahead.”

“Polishing my sterling silver julep glasses, in which I will serve a barrel-strength bourbon with ice, unadulterated by mint, to sip while watching the race on television.”

“I enjoy the pageantry leading up to the big race, with eyes all around the world watching us. I have cynical thoughts about a few things, but I can’t help but enjoy the Derby. I was born and raised here. Guess it’s in my blood. Oh, and my annual mint julep has morphed into a jalapeño mint julep, infused with my homemade simple syrup with the pepper for an extra kick.”

“I don’t mean to be a grouch, but I don’t look forward to Derby anymore. After living here nearly 40 years, I’ve had my fill of all things Deby. But each year, if I’m in town, I put on a bright smile and make sure any visitors I encounter are impressed with our friendly and hospitable little city.”

“Every Derby Day I get my yard spruced up: flowers planted, raised beds seeded, weeds weeded, gutters cleaned. It’s an outdoor bonanza. If it’s raining, I just go about business as usual and try not to think about broken horse legs.”

“A really gorgeous time of year, but I’ll be honest: Seems as though there’s a lot of moral ambiguity surrounding Derby: the city shoving the homeless population out of sight to make way for tourists, the health and safety of the horses and their riders.”

“Derby may be great for our city — national spotlight, big for businesses — but racing has not been so great for the horses, especially as of late. I’ve decided to take a break from celebrating.”

“Wondering where the city hides its unhoused population.”

“I always get a lump in my throat when we’re all singing ‘My Old Kentucky Home.’ I know that this song has a complicated and racist history, so my feelings are VERY mixed about it. It’s part of my memory of Derby Day from the time I was a small child, so the tune brings back visions of being a little kid at my family’s Derby party, surrounded by tipsy adults singing at the top of their lungs. When I lived in New York City in my 20s, I always hosted a Derby party, and I could always count on the other Kentuckians present to sing along with me, and I would always get teary-eyed. The song itself is like a lot of my history with the South and with my home state: a lot of affection and nostalgia coexisting with my modern-day, clearer-eyed perspective.”

“It’s always a tradition to see who your kiddos bring home next, the unexpected guests rolling in muddy at about 8:30 p.m. for showers and beds. Although, actually, not sure what time they all go to bed.”

“As someone who has lived in Louisville since the ’90s, Derby can be disruptive and make a local jaded. But taking someone who has never been to the Fastest Two Minutes in Sports, you get to see Churchill Downs and Louisville through their awed eyes — everything brighter, shinier, amplified beyond recognition.”

“I used to work in restaurants, and the back of the house would always do a toast with chocolate milk before Derby Day service.”

“My favorite part of the whole thing is the hour or so between the last race before the Derby and the Derby itself. Everything else is out of the way, and all attention focuses on this one horse race. And if you can be at the track, that’s the best place to spend that time.”

“Derby Festival Marathon and miniMarathon the Saturday before Derby. So much fun to go through Churchill Downs as part of the course.”

“I’m part of the miniMarathon tailgating club, est. 1998, and we’re the rowdy crew near Walnut Street Baptist that goes buck wild cheering all the runners on. We’ve been known to pass out a few adult beverages to runners in need too. ;)” 

“The whole place is like a fashion show from Thurby onward. People put themselves out there— for admiration and scorn.”

“Derby morning, drinking coffee, marking up the program in anticipation of my $2 or $5 bets on the ‘best’ of the longshots. ‘It’s good to be fast, much better to be lucky.’”

“I love to research and read and study everything about each Derby Horse, find out how they were named, how they made it to the Derby. I debate with my friends in the week before. And then pretty much inevitably I bet on the wrong horse. But this year I’m for sure going to win!”

“When post positions are published in the paper, one of our kids cuts out each horse and puts them in a hat. All our employees at the Kizito Cookies bakery and family draw from the pot. Winner takes all. This act signals that the hard work is now turning to party time.”

“Derby Saturday, I get the ‘Courier-Journal’ and read all about the horses, their trainers, their history. I pick my horse and usually go to a Derby party. Then on Sunday, I get the ‘Courier-Journal’ again and read their whole Derby section. Look forward to this every year.”

“One year, as I was getting ready to go to the track on Derby Day, Dan Fogelberg’s song ‘Run for the Roses’ randomly came up on my iPod in shuffle mode — so you can guess how long ago that was. On Derby mornings now, as I get ready to go to the track or a party, I play that song.”

“I listen to ‘Dead Flowers,’ by the Rolling Stones [lyric: “making bets on your Kentucky Derby days”], while enjoying a late-morning glass of Blanton’s on Derby Day.”

“Buddy knows I just can’t quit the Stones. (I tried after Charlie died, but failed.) Every Derby morning, he texts me a YouTube video of ‘Dead Flowers.’ I never aspired to spend Kentucky Derby Day in a rose-pink Cadillac, but I’ve managed to stay out of the basement. Seldomly.”

“Rocking out to Love Jones’ ‘Central Avenue’ and reminiscing about when Derby was a big party for locals. Party on Central, cruising on Broadway, partying in the Infield.”

“Love hearing Tim Krekel’s ‘Here Ever After’ playing when I least expect it.”

“Seeing which famous people are attending the Barnstable Brown Party.”

“I love to go to Middletown Kroger and see the making of the garlands of lilies and roses for the Oaks and Derby winners.”

“Thunder, Thunder, Thunder. I left Hawaii a day early one year to be back in time for Thunder.”

“It’s that first firework of Thunder that just gets me EVERY time.” 

“This year’s Thunder finale looked like paintings!” 

“I have childhood memories of using tokens to ride the trolley to Main Street, then meeting my mom at the Humana building and walking to the Chow Wagon.”

“Weather permitting, I always work in the yard the Friday before Thunder. I’m fortunate to enjoy a wide panorama in the direction of SDF, seeing all of the air-show planes.”

“My father never cared for Derby, but loved to garden, and so it was a big day for him and his veggies. I’ve since picked up the habit from him, getting my garden done during Derbytime, if not on Derby Day.”

“Each year on the day of the Pegasus Parade, I take a short stroll from the Irish Hill neighborhood toward Broadway before the start of the parade to check out the floats, horses, marching bands, balloons. Brings back wonderful memories from my childhood.” 

“Every year, Collegiate hosts a kindergarten Derby on Thurby, and this year we celebrated our 62nd running. Parents, friends, alumni, faculty, students — the entire JK-12 community — always gather to cheer on the school’s five- and six-year-old ‘jockeys,’ who compete with their self-decorated hobbyhorses clad in matching silks. Each child, bearing the name of an actual Derby contender, races around the well-groomed track at school in hopes of winning the ‘blanket of roses’ created by students.” 

“The horses! I had a stick horse I named Whirlaway in the early ’40s. I watched the horses run on black-and-white TV in the ’50s, and I went for my first time in the early ’60s. I LOVED being at Churchill Downs on Derby Day, and was there for quite a few, but I have not been for 30 years. The Derby ran off and left me. It may have become too ‘decadent and depraved,’ and I have undoubtedly become less so! Tom T. Hall wrote in the words of a song: ‘I tried it all when I was young and in my natural prime. Now it’s old dogs and children and watermelon wine.”

“For 10 years I hosted a celebrity party at Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse. Took me a whole year to plan. Thursday of Derby Week was the kickoff party. That day, I would make sure all the flower arraignments had arrived, check on delivery times for the ice sculptures I’d ordered for the private room, talk to the chef, take calls from Travis Tritt, Star Jones, Salt-N-Pepa, Boyz 2 Men. The Netflix show ‘7 Days Out’ wanted to follow me to see how I prepared. I was meeting with Brian McKnight, to get him fitted for the Unbridled Eve Gala, and picking up my sunglasses to attend the Derby with Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers. For some, New Year’s Eve kicks off the new year. My year finally felt like it began on that Sunday following Derby.”

“One of my favorite traditions for much of my 20s and 30s was to post up outside the big Derby parties and scope for celebrity arrivals. From the infamous Barnstable Brown party in the Highlands to the various other shindigs, I had many a celebrity sighting, and even some interactions — snapping photos with celebrities like Star Jones, Dave Chappelle and Erykah Badu. Fast-forward a few years later, and I actually began working the red carpet as a host of my podcast ‘Strange Fruit’ on WFPL. No longer an outsider, I found myself face to face with celebrities, asking fun and thoughtful questions. My favorites include Terrence Howard, Gayle King and Miss Tina Knowles, aka Beyoncé’s mom. Celebrity interactions will always be my favorite part of Derby.” 

“For 20-some years I’ve begun every Derby Day by loading up the firebox of my smoker with charcoal and hickory and slow-cooking six to eight slabs of baby-back ribs and a good-sized pork shoulder, seasoned with my special blend dry rub. It’s an eight-hour process, accompanied by a Buffalo Trace or Old Forester julep, light on the simple syrup, nice and easy with replenishments of ice to pace myself until our guests being to arrive.” 

“My Derbytime kickoff are the days immediately preceding Thunder. I live close to the airport, and from the moment I hear that first fighter jet screaming overhead, my brain floods with feel-good neurotransmitters, and it’s a constant crescendo from that moment on.  The high doesn’t wear off for two weeks. The Friday before Thunder is when the aerial acts practice their routines, and the planes do multiple runs so you can see an extended show at the waterfront with almost zero crowd. It feels like my own little special private show.”

“Thunder has a special place in my heart. As a child, my dad worked on the 29th floor of the National City Tower (now the PNC building). Every year, I looked forward to a day of pizza and pressing my face against the glass, eye-level with many of the planes, as my Dad explained the names and capabilities of the various jets and helicopters. But the 30-minute firework show, the thunderous vibration of the finale reverberating through the building and into my body, was my absolute favorite. The last three years on Thunder, I’ve worn my Thunder T-shirt while working a 12-hour hospital shift, then walked down to the waterfront for the fireworks. I work on a unit where a few rooms face the river. It’s been fun to turn hospital beds to face the windows, to watch the faces of my patients as planes and helicopters come into view.” 

“Every year on Derby Day, I pull out my mother-in-law’s Benedictine recipe. She has written it on a recipe card, adorned with roses and fleurs-de-lis. In our lifetime of Pinterest online recipe sharing, I love nothing more than a recipe captured in an olive-oil-stained marble composition book from my Italian grandmother, or on a festive, carefully penned card from my Louisville mother-in-law. While I mercilessly squeeze out the cucumbers to make the Benedictine, I know the purchase at Kroger would be easier, with better consistency and color. But when you follow a recipe across generations, those you have lost are in the kitchen with you, and there is something simply delicious about the taste of family tradition.” 

“Our house is right in the middle of the Cherokee Triangle Art Fair action. We have an open house on Saturday that lasts all day, and all of our best friends show up. We make some delicious and deadly bourbon sours, cook an insane amount of food and usually buy a little art too. My favorite time may actually be the Friday night before, when everything is being set up and the anticipation of the next day’s party is humming. They always have cheap beers and brats for the neighborhood people the night before.”

“The energy of Louisville. You can step outside and feel it.”